


Dim Sum and Pirate Ships

by wafflesandkruge



Category: Nikolai Series - Leigh Bardugo, Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo, The Grisha Trilogy - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Dim Sum, Fluff, Gen, Trash Talk, kuwei is done with ravka, palace gossip, shu solidarity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-15
Updated: 2020-07-15
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:27:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25276891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wafflesandkruge/pseuds/wafflesandkruge
Summary: It's been four years since Kuwei left Shu Han and the Bataar twins are the closest he's gotten to home during that time. One afternoon, they invite him to the Grand Palace for tea and they spend hours discussing everything from his Kerch friends to their plans for the future.
Relationships: Kuwei Yul-Bo & Tamar Kir-Bataar & Tolya Yul-Bataar, Tamar Kir-Bataar & Tolya Yul-Bataar, background zoyalai
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17





	Dim Sum and Pirate Ships

**Author's Note:**

  * For [zemenipearls (ayaanle)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ayaanle/gifts).



Kuwei squinted at the morning sun, resenting it. It was Sunday, which meant he should have been rolling out of bed slightly after noon, then spending the rest of his time pestering David in the labs to make him a better sparker. But it seemed like a certain pair of Heartrender twins had other plans for him today. They’d been gone for almost a month on some trip to the Shu border, and honestly, he was surprised they’d chosen to come back at all. Os Alta wasn’t the friendliest place for people that looked like them.

Last night, right before dinner, a note had been delivered to his room and he took it out of his pocket now to reread it. Tamar’s familiar handwriting filled the page.  _ 10 am. Grand Palace Saloon. Bring the tea you stole from the Ambassador. _

He didn’t even question how she knew of his crimes. Kaz had taught him well, but Tamar had a prenatural knack to sense troublemaking from him. She claimed it was her “big sister instinct,” but Kuwei called bullshit because she never seemed to have an inkling about Tolya’s plans to overthrow Nikolai, be crowned King of Ravka, then declare a national week of poetry where every citizen had to speak in verse. 

He cursed miserably as he trudged up the hill towards the Grand Palace. They could have at least sent a carriage for him. Despite the sun’s presence, the air was chilly and he wished he’d had the foresight to wear a scarf. The grass still had bits of frost stuck to it from the night before, so it was a rough twenty minutes of trying not to trip and splatter mud all over his brand new kefta. 

When he got to the Grand Palace, a guard ushered him towards a discreet side entrance that he suspected was frequented by certain royals sneaking in and out for illicit adventures. He was led through a rather unassuming hallway lined with portraits of Ravkan royalty, each with an air of arrogance surrounding them. Finally, the guard pushed him into what looked like a private dining room. The twins were both there, grinning. Well, Tamar was grinning, Tolya was maybe smiling, but it could have been a trick of the light. 

Tamar bounded forward and wrapped her arm around his shoulders. “How’s our little phoenix doing?” she whooped as she mussed his hair.

Kuwei scowled and tried to untangle himself from her grip. He’d had enough of people calling him by a name that wasn’t his, not really. “Don’t call me that.”

They all took their seats at the table. Kuwei removed a packet of stolen tea from his pocket and emptied it into the kettle of water waiting at the table. With a small flick of his fingers, he lit the flame under it and steam soon started to curl from the spout. The twins clapped enthusiastically at the display of grisha power. 

As they waited for the tea to steep, they made light conversation about what they’d been up to since the last time they’d met for afternoon tea almost two months ago. 

“Tamar and I were sent on a...uh… diplomatic mission to Ketterdam,” Tolya explained. Kuwei had suspected as much. Zoya had refused to tell him a single thing and had only given him vague assurances of their safe return. 

“You can call it spying,” Tamar said with a sigh. “Nikolai’s convinced Ketterdam is having secret negotiations with Shu Han, or some nonsense like that. We can’t really discuss what we did, but we  _ did _ meet up with those hooligan friends of yours again.”

Kuwei raised an eyebrow. “How are they doing?”

Tolya snorted. “Still criminals. Still teenagers. I heard the boy who shot you at the auction is now sailing the world with the girl who became the slavers’ nightmares.”

Kuwei nodded as he soaked in this new information. Good for them, honestly. If they docked in a Ravkan port, he might just have to sneak out and not come back. Tamar noticed his look.

“Not sure if a wooden ship is the best place for an Inferni,  _ didi _ .” The title for little brother rolled off her tongue without a hint of hesitation. 

A sharp retort was on the tip of Kuwei’s tongue when he noticed the tea had finished brewing. He poured cups for everyone and they were silent for a moment as they appreciated the high quality tea. Kuwei made a mental note to raid the ambassador’s stash again whenever he visited again. 

Tolya cleared his throat. “Delicious. Dare I say, this tea has a rather strong…  _ kǔ weì _ .”

Kuwei blinked as Tamar cackled. “He’s been waiting to use that one for a while.”

“I’m going to set your kefta on fire,” Kuwei threatened. Just before he could lunge across 

the table, there was a soft knock at the door. He gave Tamar a questioning look. She hadn’t mentioned anyone else joining them. 

She got up and opened the door, revealing a smiling Shu woman carrying several trays of food. Kuwei salivated as the scents of nearly-forgotten foods hit his nose. She bowed her head and began setting plates down on the table.

“This is Xiaoyun. We hired her from one of the border cities on the way back,” Tamar explained. Kuwei nodded as a plate of pork dumplings was set before him. Not caring that they were steaming hot, he snatched one and popped it into his mouth. He closed his eyes and let the familiar flavors spread across his tongue. A sharp sting across his knuckles brought him back to the real world. 

“Have some manners,” Tamar hissed. Kuwei somehow swallowed his mouthful of dumpling without choking.

“Thank you,  _ ah yi _ ,” he muttered. Xiaoyun grinned.

“It’s my pleasure. I’ll leave you to your business now.” With another bow, she left the room. Kuwei immediately dug in, piling his plate high with all the Shu delicacies he’d been missing for four years. Tamar and Tolya took their time, putting more food onto his plate when it seemed to be getting empty. 

“So how’s training?” Tolya asked when Kuwei’s pace seemed to finally slow. Kuwei frowned as he pushed a piece of radish around his plate.

“Zoya’s our teacher.” He didn’t elaborate further. The twins exchanged a knowing smirk. 

“And how’s that going?” Tamar asked. 

“She’s not an Inferni. And..you know. She’s  _ Zoya _ .” 

“Oh we know. Has she convinced you to sacrifice your soul for the sake of Ravka yet?” Tolya did his best impression of Zoya’s sneer. 

“Be a soldier for Ravka. You get herring and verbal rebukes everyday for your troubles,” Kuwei grumbled. “Half the time, she’s not even there to teach because she’s off having secret adventures with King Nikolai.”

Tamar snorted. “You’d think she’d be more careful. In the towns we visited, there’s already rumors she and Nikolai are secretly married.”

“You forgot the best part. They apparently have an illegitimate child hidden away in the palace.” From his pocket, Tolya withdrew a newspaper which Kuwei eagerly snatched. Printed across the front page was a badly drawn image of Nikolai and Zoya kissing passionately. Bright red Shu characters were splashed across the image.

“Am I allowed to keep this?” he asked as he scanned the article. It had to be the most ludicrous thing he’d read ever since he’d “accidentally” found poetry David had written for Genya in one of his notebooks. He couldn’t wait to share this with his classmates. He’d never be able to look Zoya in the eye again.

“Keep it. We’ve already mailed out copies to our friends. There’ll be no escape for our king,” Tamar replied with a bark of laughter. Kuwei carefully refolded the tabloid and placed it inside a pocket.

The three of them lapsed into comfortable silence. Xiaoyun brought out a platter of fruit for dessert. Kuwei started picking seeds out of a strawberry as his mind fixated on a question he'd thought of last night but had forgotten until now. He blurted it out without another thought.

“Why are you two still here?”

Tolya frowned and crossed his arms, clearly a little miffed. “What do you mean?”

“Well, I mean…” Kuwei bit the inside of his cheek, trying to think of a way to phrase this. His gaze snagged on the tattoo on Tamar’s forearm. “You were here to protect Alina, right? If she’s off doing her own thing now, why are you still here?”

Tolya clicked his tongue. “So impudent. I can see how you’re driving Zoya crazy if you ask questions like these.” 

Kuwei averted his gaze, heat rising in his cheeks. He shouldn’t have asked such a personal question. He pushed himself up from his cushion on the floor with the intention to flee from the room and maybe throw himself into the lake. 

“Where are you going, little one?” Tamar teased. “Sit. Drink more tea. We’ll answer your question.”

To his relief, neither of them looked upset. Tolya looked annoyed, but to be honest he always did to some degree. He made a gesture for Kuwei to sit back down and poured him another cup of tea. 

“Do you want the long version or the short version?”

Kuwei squinted suspiciously at the twins. When Tolya mentioned a “long version,” it was usually referencing an obscure ballad from a prehistoric tome that took two days to fully recite. But Tamar looked awfully smile-y, so perhaps it wasn’t poetry. 

“Long version.”

“Well you know what they say in Shu Han.  _ Zŭo guān fā cái.  _ Work for the government and get rich. So we’re gonna stay with Nikolai for a bit longer-”

“We love him, but he’s a bit much to be around,” Tamar interrupted. “So we’re just gonna be here until his rule stabilizes.”

“So anyways. After that, we should have accumulated more than enough money to purchase some land. We’ll move down to Keramzen.”

“With Alina?” Kuwei still remembered the first time he’d visited with Zoya. It didn’t seem like a particularly nice place, but he supposed it wasn’t horrible either. It just didn’t seem like retirement material.

“Yes. We’ll buy up the land near the orphanage and set aside a portion of the money for renovations and such. Tamar mentioned wanting to get into carpentry?”

“I’m going to be the  _ best _ carpenter,” Tamar promised with a wink. “Those kids aren’t gonna know what hit them.”

“The rest of the money, we’re going to invest in a jurda farm in Novyi Zem. The crop seems to be quite lucrative these days. Assuming the annual returns from that are significant, we’ll begin constructing a ship.”

“Like...a pirate ship?” Kuwei had heard their stories from their days as members of Sturmhond’s crew, but he hadn’t realized it was an experience they’d missed. 

“Exactly. Once that’s constructed in about three years, we’ll begin recruiting a grisha crew. Have you heard the stories about your friend Ghafa? In a way, we’ll be following in her footsteps. We intend to rescue grisha from Shu Han and Fjerda and help them find refuge in Novyi Zem. They have schools there that can help them learn without training them for an army.”

“But isn’t Ravka already doing that? I remember Zoya mentioning something about some Second Army grisha undercover in Fjerda…” Kuwei frowned as he rummaged through his mind for what Zoya had said. Something about Nadia’s younger brother…

Tamar coughed and grimaced. “We’re not doing a great job at that right now. Besides, the grisha refugees would probably be better off in Novyi Zem than here. Of course, we’d give them the choice, but we don’t really anticipate making many trips back to Os Alta.”

“We already have contacts in Shu Han and we’re working on setting some up in Fjerda. It’s very likely this whole operation can be operational sometime in the next five years,” Tolya continued with a calculating gleam in his eye. 

“Do I fit into this plan?” Kuwei asked. He immediately hated how pathetic that question sounded. He wasn’t some lost puppy in need of a new home. The urge to go jump into the lake returned. But he specifically remembered Tamar saying that a ship was no place for an Inferni and he hated the thought of being left in Ravka while they got to sail the high seas. 

“Of course. David has been doing a little bit of research for us on how to fireproof ships. He expects a breakthrough soon. We’ll call on you for a pirate hat fitting soon.”

“Oh.” A smile broke out on his face without meaning to. “Can I name the ship?”

“Are you the one paying for it? Don’t be ridiculous,” Tolya scoffed. “You better earn your place–”

A knock at the door interrupted him. Tolya took the note offered by the servant and read it, his brows furrowing. “Seems like Genya needs us, Tamar. Immediately.”

“Hmm. Duty calls.” Tamar got up and Kuwei did the same, brushing off his kefta. He supposed he should get back to his schoolwork anyways. 

The twins walked with him back to the side entrance of the palace, playfully bickering over potential names for their planned ship. Kuwei happily sandwiched himself between them, chiming in with his own ideas. If five years was all that was between him and this new chapter of his life, then he would gladly wait it.


End file.
